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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I was given my first ever blog award by the awesome Kalmo! Participating in this award seemed so fun that it brought me out of blogging hibernation!And I definitely want my readers to know me better. :)

So without further ado, in no particular order:

1. I hate Parmesan cheese. Sorry, but it's true. Just the smell makes me gag. I know it's a popular cheese since it's sprinkled on practically everything. So many foods are off limits to me: chicken alfredo, lasagna, i.e. most pastas and Italian dishes.

But I don't mind it in pesto, the basil covers up the taste. My favorite cheese is smoked gouda. Yums!

2. I have 32 bottles of nail polish (and counting), yet not one drop ends up on my fingernails.

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A lot of polishes for me, but pretty modest for a beauty blogger

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Why? Multiple reasons really. I used to play piano (in the loose sense that most Asians end up behind a baby grand at some point in their lives) and long nails simply get in the way. So I've never gotten used to having nails extend past my fingertips (which they never have). Additionally, I cook a lot. I worry enough about a loose hair (I shed like a Persian cat) getting mixed into muffin batter, much less wanting to look out for a nail acrylic chipping here and there.

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The sad state of my fingers. They might as well be toes! Can you believe I've never had a manicure? Why yes, you can.

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Instead the polishes end up on my toes. I've given up buying subtle neutrals and interesting dark polishes since they don't translate well on my piggies. It's bright and colorful lacquers all the way now.

3. I would like to be bald one day. Though at the rate my hair is falling out, it might be soon, lol. :P

But seriously, I've had a head of hair all my life (out of the womb fully coiffed). It would be nice to change it up.

Think more Natalie and less Mr. Clean

I would definitely spend less time in the shower and can save some money on shampoo and conditioner. Won't have to comb my hair (not that I do currently) and put it up when I'm exercising. Also won't have to vacuum up my loose hair each week (enough to make a toupee, sad).

Some people say getting rid of your hair will make you less vain. But I don't think I'll be less self-absorbed. ;) Just a different sort of vanity! Lol, I'll worry instead about the weird tan line on my scalp (been keeping a center part for years) and dressing up my head (with funky scarves, I suppose). Also, how would I match my foundation, by my face, my scalp, or my neck (unfortunately all different colors)?

4. I have two older brothers (and yet my arms are the hairiest of all three, sigh). My second oldest brother is autistic (severe, he doesn't speak and can't live alone). This has caused a lot of misunderstandings between strangers and even relatives and sometimes people don't have the patience to deal with his behavior. Case in point, my brother couldn't stop laughing (something he sometimes does when he's uncomfortable) at my grandmother's funeral. Thankfully, the funeral was pretty informal, but my other brother was pissssed!

Because of him, I've come to realize how hard it is for people with mental handicaps and disorders to be maneuver through society. He is one of the reasons I have such a passion for psychology.

Also because of him, I am very sensitive to people using words like "retard" and "retarded" as insults, which is unfortunately still commonplace here. My reasoning is this: when you use retard/retarded as an insult, you are changing the connotation of the word (which is a technical term) to a negatively charged one. People with mental issues already face stigma, why make their lives even harder? People with mental challenges cannot change who they are, but those of us with normative privillege can use our words carefully to make this world an easier place to live in. It doesn't take much effort, promise! :)

5. My favorite show of all time is Friends! :D Cue theme song.

I have all ten seasons on DVD and still catch reruns on TV when they're on. If you give me a ten second clip of an episode, I can identify the plot of the episode (still working on identifying the season). Seriously. I wish I had the same sort of devotion toward classes!

In case you're wondering, I don't have a favorite "Friend". That's like having a favorite child. :P They're all lovable with their different quirks. I notice that a lot of people like Chandler, because he's funny and sarcastic. And a lot of people dislike Ross and Rachel because they seem whiney. Honestly, if you watch the series from beginning to end and trust me, I've done it dozens of times, you notice that any of the six can be the crazy, annoying one and the others are the reasonable counterparts to the crazy. I really like that realistic dynamic.

As for guest stars though, I really liked Hank Azaria as Phoebe's boyfriend David- so sweet and nerdy!

That's the guy who does all the fun voices on The Simpsons (Moe, Comic Book Guy, Apu)!

And Christina Applegate was hilarious as one of Rachel's crazy sisters.

The only thing I dislike about Friends is the Ross and Rachel trope they've created. On other shows nowadays, they have two characters who are randomly thrown in a romance and they don't seem to get along well, but you're expected to root for them, because they're "lobsters" or something. Remember TV writers, Ross and Rachel is basically the exception to the rule of romance.

Haha, you must have no idea what the hell I'm talking about if you don't watch Friends.

6. I don't eat beef. Haha, it must seem like I'm a super picky eater, but I'm really not. Just no Parmesan or beef.

The beef is for semi-religious reasons. I'm as Buddhist as my partner is Catholic, which means we just celebrate the holidays. When I visited my second cousins in Singapore in 2008, I found out that they didn't eat beef because they worship Kuan Yin. Find out why here. I wanted to try it, in part to be a better Buddhist but mostly to see if I could give up beef.

Three years later, and I've pretty much given it up, barring a few mishaps at restaurants (was accidentally given oxtail claypot instead of lamb claypot, yikes) and a few gray areas like gelatin (some of it comes from bovine bones, but marsmallows and jelly candies are so yummy), beef casings on sausage, and leather. But I still drink milk, too hard to give up.

7. I love my partner. He puts up with a lot of my crazy, and believe me, there's enough to go around!

Just some of the things he goes through on a daily basis:

My erratic mood swings (I wish I could blame it on PMS) when it comes our relationship status. One day I could say I could spend my life with him and why aren't we married RIGHT NOW?! Two days later, I say forever is a loooong time and why is he pressuring me to commit? <-- He isn't.

Making him to go to the grocery store three times in an hour because I haven't written a list. Thankfully we live close to one!

Keeping him up, because I'm an night owl and he isn't. He goes to bed at 11PM, goody goody. :P

Living in a messy apartment. I've seen his family home, it's basically as clean as a hotel. It must be torture for him to live with me.

If it isn't obvious, I'm loads of fun.

He's the nicest person I know. It's unfortunate that he got stuck with an awful girlfriend, poor guy. I don't know what might happen in the future with us. But I'll always be thankful for the time we've had together and I'll never regret being with him. Aww, I'm getting all sappy on y'all.

8. I love free stuff--especially free t-shirts. I never realized it before I entered college, but college gives you access to a ton of free stuff: food, pens, day planners, water bottles, etc. But I love t-shirts the most! Haha, adding free t-shirts into my wardrobe is a great way to stave off laundry day for a while. I don't really mind advertising some obscure web company as long as I get a clean, new tee out of it! To date, there hasn't been a free tee too tacky that I wouldn't wear it, but then again, my tolerance is high. Well, I did get a tee that has words on the ass area. I still wear it though (under a long jacket, of course). Don't judge! I really hate laundry. :)

9. I'm the youngest in my family, for realsies. I'm the youngest child and youngest cousin on both sides of my family. My oldest maternal cousin has a son older than me, lol. As a result, I enjoy being around older people. Younger people, especially little kids, freak me out a little, though I'm sure the feeling's mutual. I also might be a teensy bit spoiled (a lot, so says my brother).

But when people meet me, they assume I'm the older sibling amongst the three of us. It's because I'm bossy! I nag my family like a hen mother. Hey, nagging is love. But people thinking I'm older than I am has made me zealous with anti-aging skincare. I tell my friends about my literal nightmares of getting wrinkles and they just laugh at me. Bah.

10. I'm trying to be healthy. Sure, some of it's chocked up to vanity. It'd be nice to drop 20 lbs and fit into my high school clothes (there's a whole wardrobe waiting for me). But mostly, I worry about my health. I'm young now and my body isn't in any danger of getting any health condition. But I really don't want to wait until I have to change my lifestyle. I look at older members and I don't want to take medication when I'm older for high blood pressure or something.

Before this decision, I scoffed at "health nuts" eating their brown rice and running on their treadmills. Now that I'm on the other side, I realized that healthy changes weren't so bad: more veggies, checking food labels for saturated fat levels, sugar and sodium levels, and making sure you're not just surviving on junk food.

A weird discovery I made was that I tend to eat less when I exercise. I don't feel hungry after working out. Exercise kinda has a positive snowball effect on my life. Whee.

I try not to measure my accomplishments by the number on the scale which fluctuates way too much anyway, but by how fast I can run on the treadmill (yes, I do feel like hamster sometimes). I also like hiking (yet am afraid of heights, go figure).

Haha, I think I did this wrong. Y'all probably wanted bullet points but you got a term paper and probably know way more about me than you wanted, sorry!

Now I'm supposed to tag ten people. I want to tag my followers who've stuck by me throughout my many haituses (hope that's how you spell it).

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

I know I've been MIA all summer. I can make excuses and apologize all day long, but truthfully I needed the break. Sometimes life just happens.

Why I temporarily quit the blogosphere:

-I needed to focus on my two summer classes (needed to turn them into GPA boosters and not killers).

-My paternal grandmother died in late July. She had been sick since early June and in and out of the hospital for dialaysis. Although she and I were not that close in recent years, her death took a toll on me. It was surreal how busy I felt handling this along with school. The morning she died, I had to go back the college and study for a midterm the following Monday. Her funeral was held the weekend before finals. Sometimes I felt too busy to grieve. I hope I didn't overshare. I've always meant for this blog to be anonymous but still personal.

-Had to study for the GRE. Unwisely signed up for one four days after my last final. Also didn't realize the test was 4.5 hours and not 3 hours until I was taking it. Clearly, I was well prepared for it, lol.

-General rush of preparing for the fall start of school-- signing up for classes, asking for letters of rec, talking to advisors, interviewing for research positions. Soo not ready to be a senior, but here I am! Oh crap.

-Just vegging out while I still can. I highly recommend it. :)

This has been a crazy summer. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

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